Release ALLPLAN 2018-1

Release Notes for ALLPLAN 2018-1

Important New Features Since ALLPLAN 2018-0 Release

Since the release of ALLPLAN 2018-0, we have enhanced more than 250 features throughout ALLPLAN, making ALLPLAN faster and more reliable.

In developing the Service Release for ALLPLAN 2018-1, we focused on ease of use and collaboration. Again, we implemented a great number of your ideas and requests, particularly when it comes to the Actionbar. When working together using interfaces, you can benefit from importing data via the new IFC4 interface. To use this new interface, select the ‘Import IFC 4 Data’ tool. Another highlight is the new fully integrated ALLPLAN Bridge plug-in.

Below, you can find some examples of the most important new features in ALLPLAN 2018-1. You can find details in the overview of release notes since ALLPLAN 2018-0 on the Internet.

By sending quality reports, giving feedback or posting on the forum, you - as an ALLPLAN user - contribute in large part to the further development of ALLPLAN, making ALLPLAN even more practical and reliable.

New Features on the Actionbar in ALLPLAN 2018-1

ALLPLAN 2018 introduced the Actionbar. Using the Actionbar, you can access the ALLPLAN tools quickly and easily.

Since its introduction, the Actionbar has been accepted very well by ALLPLAN users, who have given us continuous feedback. By implementing your ideas and requests, we considerably enhanced the Actionbar in ALLPLAN 2018-1.

Actionbar - important new features

We added more tools to Actionbar - without overloading it.

You can find the modification tools not only on the shortcut menu of the object but also in the ‘Change’ and ‘Edit’ task areas.

The ‘Quick Access’ task area is no longer a fixed area. Instead, the tools in the ‘Quick Access’ task area change with the task at hand.

‘Layout Editor’ task: The ‘Quick Access’ task area includes all tools you need to edit layouts.

Using ‘Customize User Interface...’, you can specify the spacing between tools and flyouts - from ‘very small’ to ‘large’.

You can define the size of the role icon in ‘Customize User Interface...’.

We enhanced the behavior of flyouts in collapsed task areas:

  • Click the icon to select the tool.
  • Click the icon and keep the mouse button pressed down to open the flyout menu.
  • Pointing to the arrow displays a line dividing the icon into two parts: the icon itself and the remaining area around the arrow, which gets a darker color. Click in this area to open the flyout menu.
  • Flyouts in collapsed task areas are separated by lines (separators).

By selecting the new ‘Bridge Construction’ role, you can access the tools of the new ALLPLAN Bridge plug-in. You can test the free plug-in for 30 days.

We renamed the following tasks:

  • The new name of ‘Labeling’ is ‘Label’.
  • The new name of ‘Collaboration’ is ‘Teamwork’.

We added the following new task areas:

  • Axis Grid (for creating and editing axis grids; included in the ‘Design’ task)
  • 2D Areas (for creating and editing 2D surface elements; included in the ‘Design’ task)
  • Update (for updating architectural elements and labels; included in the ‘Elements’, ‘Finish’, ‘Modeling’, ‘Label’ and ‘Engineering Structures’ tasks)
  • Paragraph (for creating and editing paragraph text; included in the ‘Label’ task)
  • Boolean Operators (for combining and editing solids; included in the ‘Modeling’ task)
  • Reports, Legends (for defining and editing reports and legends; included in the ‘User-defined Objects’ task)
  • Label Styles (for defining, editing and managing label styles; included in the ‘User-defined Objects’ task)
  • Room Group (for creating and editing room groups; included in the ‘Finish’ task)
  • Interior Finish (combines various tools for creating and editing interior finishes; included in the ‘Finish’ task)
  • Railing (‘Finish’ task)

We added the new ‘Work Environment’ task area, which is a fixed area:

  • This task area combines various tools for setting up the work environment, such as ‘System Angle’, ‘Rotated Plan View’, ‘Work Plane’, ‘Reference Scale’ or ‘Grid’. In previous versions, you could find these tools in different places.
  • In addition, the ‘Work Environment’ task area includes all the tools you could find in the former ‘Selection’ task area.

The ‘3D Design’ task area is no longer available. You can now find all its tools in the ‘3D Objects’ task area.

In addition, we removed the ‘Building Alteration’, ‘Reference’, ‘Structural Analysis’ and ‘Check’ task areas, moving all tools to other suitable task areas.

We reworked all task areas, adding suitable tools or resorting the tools. Most of these enhanced features are the results of your feedback and comments, regardless of whether you posted on the forum, contacted technical support or sent e-mails.

New features on the Quick Access Toolbar in ALLPLAN 2018-1

We added a number of tools to the ‘Quick Access Toolbar’ so that you no longer need to show the menu bar or select tools on the menus.

Quick Access Toolbar - important new features

The ‘Quick Access Toolbar’ includes the new ‘Default Settings’ tool. Using its dropdown list, you can open the ‘Options’ and ‘Defaults’ tools.

The ‘Quick Access Toolbar’ includes the new ‘Edit’ tool. Using its dropdown list, you can open the following tools:

  • ‘Cut’, ‘Copy’, ‘Paste’ and ‘Paste to Original Position’ (from the ‘Edit’ menu)
  • ‘Copy to Clipboard’ (from the ‘View’ menu) and ‘Save Contents of Viewport as a Bitmap...’ (from the ‘File’ menu). We moved these tools from the dropdown list of the ‘View’ tool to the dropdown list of the ‘Edit’ tool.
  • ‘Paste Contents...’ (from the ‘Edit’ menu)
  • ‘Link’, ‘XRef’, ‘Custom XRef’, ‘Bitmap Area’ and ‘Object’ (from the ‘Insert’ menu)
  • ‘Edit Linked Objects...’ and ‘Modify OLE Objects’ (from the ‘Edit’ menu)

Changes in the dropdown list of the ‘View’ tool:

  • We moved ‘Copy to Clipboard’ and ‘Save Contents of Viewport as a Bitmap...’ to the dropdown list of the ‘Edit’ tool.
  • We moved ‘Full Screen’ to the dropdown list of the ‘Window’ tool.

New Features for Interfaces in ALLPLAN 2018-1

The new ‘Import IFC 4 Data’ tool

In ALLPLAN 2018-1, you can use the new IFC interface to import data. We are continuously working to enhance this interface, making it better for future ALLPLAN versions.

To use the new interface, select the ‘Import IFC 4 Data’ tool. You can find this tool in the dropdown list of the ALLPLAN icon or on the ‘File’ menu - ‘Import’. This tool imports data in the following formats: IFC 4, IFC XML 4, IFC 2x3 and IFC XML 2x3.

The new interface offers numerous advantages:

  • You can import IFC 4 and IFC 2x3 formats.
  • We enhanced performance and quality.
  • The most important IFC objects from architecture will be imported as corresponding ALLPLAN elements; all other objects will be imported as user-defined architectural elements for the time being.
  • You can import data into an existing or empty building structure.
  • You can assign IFC attributes to ALLPLAN attributes during import. In earlier versions, this was only possible during export.
  • The import log provides more information: Elements that cannot be transferred are sorted by IFC object type and listed with their internal IDs.

We recommend using the new interface for importing IFC data. However, you can use the conventional interface if you are not satisfied with the result produced by the new interface.

More new and enhanced features for the new IFC 4 interface

We enhanced import of custom columns.

You can import columns with more than 18 corners.

We enhanced export and import of circular columns.

You can create a building structure while importing IFC data or later.

Hollow profiles retain their original element types during import.

The export log provides more information. Elements that cannot be transferred are sorted by problem category and IFC object type and listed with the ‘Name’ and ‘Allright_Component_ID’ attributes.

We enhanced export of openings using the new interface.

The ‘Support freeform geometry (NURBS)’ option is no longer available for exporting data in IFC 2x3 format.

More new and enhanced features for other interfaces

You can import and export data using the new AutoCAD 2018 file format DWG2018.

We enhanced import of 3D objects from DXF files.

Dimension text of dimension lines drawn with the ‘Direct’ option will be exported correctly to DWG format, regardless of the direction in which the dimension lines were entered.

We enhanced DWG export of user-defined architectural elements as B-reps.

You can import DXF files with scanned images in JPF format.

Enhanced features since ALLPLAN 2018-0-6 hotfix

General

We edited and corrected various messages of Quality Reporter. As a result, ALLPLAN is now more reliable.

We updated the help.

We updated the links on the ALLPLAN Welcome Screen.

Basic features

Licensing

The new ‘ALLPLAN Bridge’ option is included in all licenses. You will see a message with further information.

Projects

Project names can only include specific characters. When you enter an invalid character, ALLPLAN will list all invalid characters.

ALLPLAN Share, Workgroup Online

ALLPLAN Share: The program no longer downloads JPG files for macros repeatedly.

ALLPLAN Share: The ‘Show Bimplus model’ tool is available again.

ALLPLAN Share / Workgroup Online: You can use the ‘Save and Upload’ tool (‘File’ menu or ALLPLAN icon on the Quick Access Toolbar) to save and upload data to ALLPLAN Share or the FTP server at any time.

Libraries

SmartParts

We enhanced panic hardware for door SmartParts in 2D and 3D. ALLPLAN always places panic hardware correctly even if you change the values for rabbet and frame thickness.

PythonParts

We enhanced PythonParts in various places.

Using ‘Unlink Smart Symbol’, you can resolve the structure of PythonParts to edit the design entities individually.

Actionbar

Actionbar configuration: The ‘Switch modules automatically’ option has no effect when you double-click an element with the right mouse button. We adjusted the info text of this option.

Actionbar Configurator

You can enlarge Actionbar Configurator by clicking and dragging one of its sides or corners.

An Actionbar must not include groups of the same name. When you copy a group, it automatically gets the name ‘Copy-NameOfGroup’. You can then rename the group.

Tasks will not be deleted until you confirm a prompt.

Interfaces

IFC

Sills are correct when you import openings in freeform walls using the conventional interface.

All attributes are available when you reimport IFC data created in ALLPLAN and edited in other programs.

We enhanced IFC import of wall openings with circular shapes and radial reveals.

We enhanced IFC import of roof elements using the conventional interface.

We enhanced IFC import of IFCBEAM and its description using the conventional interface.

We enhanced IFC import and export of facades.

ALLPLAN provides the following IFC default attributes in German:

  • 1959 GrossPlannedArea - gross area in accordance with space allocation plan
  • 1960 NetPlannedArea - net area in accordance with space allocation plan

We enhanced the format of the unique IFCID, making it possible to export data to Orca.

We enhanced IFC export to Solibri, which displays and assigns the ‘Material’ and ‘Name’ attributes correctly.

ALLPLAN Bimplus

ALLPLAN Bimplus correctly displays the heights of multilayer walls created in ALLPLAN.

ALLPLAN Bimplus uses the IFC schema to export reinforcement to ALLPLAN.

The ‘Task Board’ palette opens more rapidly.

DXF, DWG

We enhanced DWG import of volume solids delimited by curves (for example, cylinders). They will be imported as 3D solids.

We enhanced DWG import of 3D volume solids.

We enhanced DWG import of extruded 3D elements. Larger areas will be imported as B-reps.

We enhanced DWG import of special AutoCAD data with block references on hidden layers.

We enhanced import of nested blocks from AutoCAD.

ALLPLAN issues a message if it cannot import some 3D objects from DWG files.

PDF

We enhanced and sped up export of ALLPLAN data with the same bitmaps, reducing the data volume.

Drafting and Labeling

The ‘Modify Offset’ tool measures the distance between lines correctly, displaying the result in the dialog line.

ALLPLAN retains the font when you delete text using the text editor.

Architecture

Attributes

The ‘Material’, ‘Code text’ and ‘Name’ attributes are correct when you export attributes using ‘Export Attributes’, change the attributes and then import the attributes again using ‘Import Attributes’.

Reports provide up to 110 characters for the ‘Code text’ attribute.

Modeling

‘Extrude Along Path’ tool: We increased the precision for curve elements with great radii displayed in views and sections and in animation.
We updated the Parasolid modeling kernel integrated in ALLPLAN to version PS30.00.174.

Views and Sections

ALLPLAN correctly updates and displays an associative view with a labeled vertical surface after you have moved this view. You no longer need to reload the data using ‘Reorganize Drawing Files’.

You can snap to points on corners and edges of polygonal, converted user-defined architectural elements in associative views.

You can deselect and reselect reference drawing files (without section objects) without this changing the view or section.

Engineering

Bar Reinforcement

Intersected bars selected in a section appear in the selection color.

Legends do not change when you move schema bars of reinforcement data converted from ALLPLAN 2016 to the current version.

ALLPLAN International

We enhanced support of right-to-left scripts. You can use a registry key for activation.

China

DWG export does not change fonts if several fonts are in one line.

India

The program considers the variant bending pin diameter for reinforcing bars that are greater than 25 mm.

USA

Bar Reinforcement: The hook length is precise when you work with feet and inches.